Member Conference: Leverage Talent Strategies for the Next Generation of Leadership 

Barbara Frankel is the Managing Director of the Insights division at Seramount, working on global and US diversity surveys, national thought-leader projects, and groundbreaking research on inclusion and DEI topics and how to create family-friendly workplaces. She was the leader of the recent Pledge to Progress research project, which details corporate America’s progress in combating racism in the year since the murder of George Floyd.

Barbara is a thought leader, editor, writer, manager, and consultant in global and US diversity management, business development and marketing, business journalism, and human- and civil-rights advocacy.

She previously was executive editor and senior vice president at DiversityInc. Barbara has served on the national Board of Directors of GLSEN (Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network) and the global advisory board of WeConnect International, a nonprofit that helps women entrepreneurs be corporate suppliers, as well as Garden State Equality.

Sachin Jain is the Managing Director & Global Head of Talent Strategy for Citi. He and his team focuses on future proofing our Talent to drive the business outcomes. Before his current role, he worked at PepsiCo, where he was part of the Global Talent Management Centre of Excellence (COE). Over last 20 years, he has had different experiences within HR function across different international geographies. 

Mija Lieberman (she/her) is an Associate Director of Advisory at Seramount, bringing extensive experience in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), talent acquisition, and DEI strategy.

Mija began her career in the tech and gaming industries, starting as a recruiting specialist at Niantic, where she improved recruiting operations and enhanced the candidate experience. She was also a founding member of the company’s first ERG and DEI council, helping to cultivate a culture of belonging. She later transitioned into a full-time DEI role at Unity as an ERG program manager, launching new ERGs and implementing scalable structures to support global growth. With a strong background in talent acquisition and ERGs, Mija understands the critical connection between recruitment and retention in building effective DEI strategies, and believes in meeting individuals where they are on their DEI journey. Mija holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with minors in Spanish and Chinese from Vassar College and is a SHRM-Certified Professional (SHRM-CP). A Bay Area native, she currently lives in San Francisco with her partner. She loves traveling and hopes to visit every continent and wonder of the world someday.

Meredith McNeill is the Senior Director of Insights at Seramount. In this role, she develops stakeholder education and provides decision and implementation support to Chief Diversity Officers on their most pressing issues.

Prior to joining Seramount, Meredith led the K-12 research design and discovery team at EAB. She has extensive experience in education policy and execution at the federal, state, and local levels. Meredith has served as a policy advisor in the U.S. Senate, an advisor to large urban public school districts, and a management consultant. She began her career as a middle school teacher in Philadelphia.

Meredith holds degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Pennsylvania. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her family.

Amy Nakatani is the Senior Director of the Insight Analytics Team at Seramount, leading the administration, analysis, and reporting efforts for Seramount’s many DEI initiatives and indexes. This work provides benchmarks and insights that help companies assess their areas of strength and opportunities for improvement to further advance their DEI efforts and create a more inclusive workplace for their employees.

Prior to joining Seramount, Amy was the Director of Assessment, Measurement, and Insights in the Office of Data Analytics at the University of Colorado Boulder. In this position, she helped campus leadership utilize data to make informed decisions to help improve student and employee experiences. She has had a career in higher education that includes several director-level assessment roles as well as serving as a faculty member at CU Boulder and Carleton College.

Throughout her career in academia, Amy has had a commitment to improving DEI excellence in the workplace. At CU Boulder, she served on the Inclusion, Diversity and Excellence in Academics (IDEA) Council and the Chancellor’s Committee for Women, and she co-led a large-scale Campus & Workplace Culture Survey initiative that was administered to all students and employees. With almost 18,000 responses, this survey provided critical data necessary for understanding the variation in experiences of people across diverse identities, followed by use of this understanding to develop action plans for addressing these inequities and creating a more inclusive campus environment for all.

Amy’s work at Seramount allows her to continue combining her two passions: using her quantitative analytics skills and helping to improve DEI efforts in the workplace.

Amy holds a BS degree in Computational Mathematics from Michigan State University and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In her free time, she enjoys the Colorado outdoors as well as binge-watching a great TV series.

Bridgette Scales is Managing Director on Seramount’s Advisory team. She is a diversity, equity, and inclusion expert with experience in sales and human resources. Bridgette joined Seramount from American Airlines in 2020, where she was the human resources business partner for customer experience. There, Bridgette was responsible for collaborating on people policies, talent management, career development, succession planning, departmental training initiatives, and aligning employee strategies with American Airline business goals.

Prior to her time at American Airlines, Bridgette spent 27 years at Proctor & Gamble. During her tenure at P&G, she was instrumental in developing and implementing strategies, programs, and processes across a complex and matrix organization. As a DEI practice leader for North America, Bridgette guided and counseled senior leaders on the integration of strategies that included awareness, cultural competency, leadership development, accountability and employee engagement. This led to better processes in the identification of high-potential employees, reduction in attrition rates of minorities, and increased DEI scores on the corporate employee survey.

Bridgette currently serves on the Global Advisory Board for the Women’s Leadership Forum within the P&G alumni network. She also sits on the She Runs It Foundation board’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

She has a BA from the University of Oklahoma, an MBA from the University of Phoenix, and a Senior HR Professional certification from HRCI.

Dr. Shanita Williams, is the Vice President of People Experience & Inclusion at Southern New Hampshire University. With over 16 years of progressive experience in higher education administration, Dr. Williams has dedicated her career to transforming workplaces by designing employee centric programs that help attract, develop and retain world class talent.

Among her notable responsibilities: oversees 39 employee networks and employee resource groups, leads employee recognition programs, manages the first-year onboarding experience, analyzes monthly engagement surveys, and directs the impactful “Standing Together for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” program—all essential drivers of employee engagement, organizational health and employee retention.

Dr. Williams empowers others to thrive by creating environments where they can embrace their most authentic selves in the workplace. In recognition of her leadership, Dr. Williams was named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Georgia and in Education by Women We Admire in 2023, and the recipient of the Diversity Impact 50 Award in 2025